The "KGB man taking over the Evening Standard" tale continues to rumble on, with much prompting from the Russians through the national press, which, incidentally has thoroughly annoyed the denizens of Derry Street and made them much less well disposed to finalising the deal.
But it seems more likely than not that something will be finalised next week, with the Russians, at least officially, backtracking a little on their PR offensive to try and push it through.
Further to my point in this blog last week about the Daily Mail & General Trust failing to disclose the bid to the stock market, it seems the Standard is not regarded as something that would have a "material" impact on its share price if a bid was received, or perceived as a "considerable" or "substantial" part of their business. If it isn't, DMGT is within its rights not to disclose it to the City.
The depressing part for those working on the Standard, or for those who support paid-for newspapers, is that the London evening paper isn't deemed to tick any of those boxes. In other words, it has become an irrelevance, which is presumably why Lord Rothermere is prepared to listen to the overtures from the Russians, even though it might go against his natural instinct or sentiment.
However, don't be completely surprised if there is still a twist or two to come before this one is finally played out.
